The Administrative Core is responsible for the overall management and coordination of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Research Core Center (to be referred to as DDC) grant. The Core is based at Baylor. The Director ofthe Administrative Core is Mary K. Estes, Ph.D. and the Co-Director is Hashem B. El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H. Two Associate DThe Administrative Core is responsible for the overall management and coordination of the Texas Medical Center Digestive Diseases Research Core Center (to be referred to as DDC) grant. The Core is based at Baylor. The Director of the Administrative Core is Mary K. Estes, Ph.D. and the Co-Director is Hashem B. El-Serag, M.D., M.P.H. Two Associate Directors are Lenard M. Lichtenberger, Ph.D. who serves as the liaison to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Lopa Mishra, M.D., who is the liaison with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The Center Administrator is Mrs. Terrlyn Bosshard. The Administrative Core will provide governance, financial and operational management, and planning functions for the Texas Medical Center DDC. Responsibilities include: (1) execution of policies and procedures that govern the DDC; (2) management of financial and personnel resources of the DDC; (3) coordination of activities of standing DDC advisory committees; (4) oversight of infrastructure and scientific cores supportive of basic and clinical Gl research; (5) organization and implementation of program development activities that benefit Gl research; (6) facilitation of communication and information dissemination among Gl researchers, institutional officials, and external groups; (7) coordination of enrichment activities that support Gl-related research and educational programs; (8) management ofthe annual strategic planning process for the DDC and Gl-related research programs in Southeast Texas; and (9) maintenance of records and preparation of reports, including the annual DDC continuation application.